UAE ruling family member: Qatar now questioning its leaders

Passengers of cancelled flights wait in Hamad International Airport (HIA) in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, June 6, 2017. Qatar’s foreign minister says Kuwait is trying to mediate a diplomatic crisis in which Arab countries have cut diplomatic ties and moved to isolate his energy-rich, travel-hub nation from the outside world. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An outspoken Emirati ruling family member has raised the prospect of a change in leadership in Qatar, which is embroiled in a major diplomatic crisis with its Gulf neighbors.

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi says Qatar’s citizens are “questioning if this is going to end up in seeing a change in leadership itself.”

Al Qassemi, of the ruling family of the sheikhdom of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he hopes Qatar ends its “rogue, maverick” ways.

He says Qatar will need to close or limit its Al-Jazeera news network and stop funding extremists groups to end the crisis.

Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on Monday.